Hetal Gutka, 24, an intern at social media agency Social Wavelength, believes she has a dream job — she gets paid to browse Facebook and Twitter.

Hetal Gutka, 24, an intern at social media agency Social Wavelength, believes she has a dream job — she gets paid to browse Facebook and Twitter.

Media management students from KJ Somaiya institute in Vidyavihar is part of a monitoring team that conducts manual online searches for user comments and reviews on social networking sites.

“I’ve been interning here since May and I keep track of the online response to our clients’ social media campaigns as well as similar campaigns by our clients’ competitors,” she says.

It is the ideal employment opportunity for the Facebook generation — who are a perfect fit for their employers.

“We have found that today’s college students come in with a fresh perspective, recognise what works and are experts at tracking social networking sites, blogs and forums,” says Mihir Karkare, the co-founder of Social Wavelength adding, “They are obvious choice for this kind of feedback and response monitoring.”

For young students, such internships offer an entirely new perspective on social networking, encouraging them to see it in the role as of an employment opportunity and a business forum.

They can also double up as avenues for students to earn some money.

Joy Das, media director, Interface Business Solution, an interactive digital media company in Oshiwara says that students can earn upto Rs8,000 a month. “During college days, we adjust according to their college timings. Students who attend lectures in the morning work for us in the evenings for around four hours.”

Natasha Vacchani, 20, a third year student of mass communication at Swami Vivekananda College, Chembur, interned at Avignyata Inc in Ghatkopar, as a graphic designer and client service executive.

“We were managing Facebook pages for clients, which were buzzing with comments and contests. As a user, I had often wondered how these contests worked, and then here I was, conducting them!” she says, smiling.

Moksh Juneja, founder and chief of Avignyata, says he has been hiring college students as interns since 2007.

“Youngsters between 15 and 25 are all over social networking sites, blogs and forums. They know how these function,” he says. “All I have to do is teach them how to use social media as a marketing tool.”

Vachhani, however, admits she had to learn, or rather relearn, one other thing: To write in full sentences on Facebook, with all the vowels intact.